New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has qualified Trump's calls to swing the Georgia vote in his favour an offence deserving impeachment.
"I absolutely think it's an impeachable offence, and if it was up to me, there would be articles on the floor quite quickly, but he, I mean, he is trying to — he is attacking our very election. He's attacking our very election", AOC told reporters on Sunday, noting that she had not listened to the full transcipt of Trump's conversation with Georgia's secretary of state.
The Washington Post earlier released a recording of Donald Trump's phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, in which the president was heard asking the official to "find" 11,780 votes so as to have an advantage over Biden in the swing state.
He maintained that the alleged voter fraud there, which he believes led to his defeat, is actually a criminal offence, and the official "can't let that happen".
Reacting to the tape, House Democrat from Georgia, Hank Johnson, called on the president to step down, adding that he intended to file a resolution to formally censure him.
US Vice President-elect Kamala Harris accused Trump of a "bold abuse of power" over his call with the Georgia official.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, who oversaw the 2019 impeachment probe, also decried Trump's comments, yet did not directly call for a second impeachment.
"If it's potentially criminal, then it's potentially impeachable, and even in the absence of a crime, it's potentially impeachable", Schiff told reporters.
Ever since US media outlets called the 2020 presidential election in Joe Biden's favour, President Trump has claimed that the vote was rigged and filed dozens of lawsuits to overturn the results, none of which have led to a change in the outcome. The Electoral College vote similarly confirmed Biden's win. The Democrat is now set to take office on 20 January.
Trump was impeached in 2019 over his alleged pressure on Ukrainian authorities to investigate the Biden family's dealings in the country. He was acquitted by the Senate on both counts of abusing power and obstructing Congress.
